Samsung fined for paying off trolls to bash HTC on the web

HTC has enough problems right now and it doesn’t need to deal with paid trolls bashing its products in online reviews as well. The Associated Press, per Bloomberg Businessweek, reports that Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission has slapped Samsung with a fine worth about USD $340,000 for paying a pack of trolls to bash HTC products and praise Samsung products in online forums. It’s a little odd that Samsung would bother to organize an anti-HTC troll campaign given that it already dwarfs its Taiwanese rival in marketing spending and that HTC has been suffering from a series of self-inflicted wounds for the past two years. If Samsung is willing to create an online troll ring to take whacks at HTC, it makes you wonder the sort of stealth operations that it has going to bash bigger fish such as Apple.